There are quite a lot of papers on the subject. Reading the abstract and cunclusions will be enough to get the artical's point.
It seems to have some benefits. If it is better than a regular diet, i don't see them prouving that. One article (not atached) suggested it is better for keeping lean mass than calorie restriction.
I would have attached more but couldn't.
Baicaly you can go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?ter...ittent+fasting.
The articles i have seen were not published in high end papers, but still it seems scientificy enough.

but recently a 30 year study of monkeys finished with no improved lifespan due to calorie restriction.

Do you happen to have a link for this study? I know of the studies with mice, and documentaries where people advocate a calorie restricted diet. Seemed rather legit. There seems to be a lot more science behind fasting, intermittent or otherwise, compaired to the "eat a bunch of meals" plan.

Do you happen to have a link for this study? I know of the studies with mice, and documentaries where people advocate a calorie restricted diet. Seemed rather legit. There seems to be a lot more science behind fasting, intermittent or otherwise, compaired to the "eat a bunch of meals" plan.

"Boxing is the art of hitting an opponent from the furthest distance away, exposing the least amount of your body while getting into position to punch with maximum leverage and not getting hit."
Kenny Weldon

I love it and will not eat any other way. Years ago I read a study on male Olympic athletes that concluded they work better when they don't have breakfast, instead drinking black coffee until lunch. I tried it for a while and saw some results at the time, then got suckered into the whole "you gotta get protein in to you as often as possible or your body will cannibalise the muscle" bodybuilding ideal by a PT (among others) at the gym.

About two months ago I was introduced to IF, at that point I was drinking a protein shake in the morning and eating lunch about midday, dinner after training. I was already eating well and I was also losing weight fast (having lost about 6-7kg en route to my fight). When I looked at all the info presented, plus with my brief experience borne of the info I had gleaned from the Olympic athlete study, I took to IF like a fish to water.

It wasn't hard, I hate eating in the morning, have hated it most of my life, always felt like I was forcing the food in only to find myself fucking starving by 11am. I was even forcing myself to drink the protein shakes in the morning because the PT was all about the protein shakes (of which I am now sceptical due to him being a part of the business that sells the supplements he recommended to buy). The moment I started IF, I wasn't hungry until 1pm and even then, I would drink a black coffee and it'd tide me over until feeding time.

This sudden interest by myself and the head instructor of the gym in IF pissed the PT off because it suggests saving the money you were going to spend on supplements and spend it on lean meat. As I mentioned, supps are his business so he kept getting in my ear saying IF was bullshit. I was having none of it. I honestly felt like I had unlocked some secret energy store that didn't require constant refuelling, kinda like getting a larger gas tank. I could eat at 2pm, a pretty big meal, on weights days bigger than I'd eat even when I was a fat mahfuggah, and by the time I hit the gym at 5pm, my stomach felt light but I had energy for days. When I was eating small meals I was always trying to gauge when, what and how much to eat to get the right energy level without regurgitating halfway through a training session. I'd get home and smash a big meal before 10pm and BAM, go to sleep on a full stomach, another no no according to convention.

I lost a further 10kg and was easily on track to being my perfect weight for my fight when an unfortunate sparring accident meant I damaged my rib. All up I had lost 17kg and had 3kg to go with 2 weeks left before the fight (which is when the accident occurred). So while I am not fighting and can't even get on the mat for at least another 5 weeks, I will remain with IF because it works for me.

My personal favourite myth is that the body can only utilise 20 grams of protein per meal.

Way to go supplement companies, I guess we should buy your handy products and consume 7 times a day instead of just eating a big steak and some dairy.

"Boxing is the art of hitting an opponent from the furthest distance away, exposing the least amount of your body while getting into position to punch with maximum leverage and not getting hit."
Kenny Weldon

Young danny here with his washboard abbs and ability to beat people up. Did explain it to me. But I got lost somwhere after the reason fasting is good is.

So I asked him.
Danny
"Hey mate, yeah I'm kinda in two minds about this topic purely due to the fact that I haven't properly experimented with it. On one hand, coming from a personal training background where all we are taught and all we try and drill into our clients is constant grazing throughout the day/night of clean foods. This is widely known to help regulate blood- glucose levels, prevent overrating due to hunger and ultimately keep metabolic rate as high as possible. Thus, when combined with adequate exercise and the right ratios of protein, carbs & fat, this method suits the majority of people's goals... On the other hand, I've read reasonable research that suggests that intermittent fasting helps longevity of your entire body- right through from organs to skin cells. There is also research that suggests that certain hormones are released upon extreme calorie restriction- hormones that are good for the body in small amounts. There are literally hundreds of claims about intermittent fasting but perhaps the one that I've had slight experience with and seems to be quite beneficial especially when cutting weight for a fight is the state where your body chooses to use fat stores for a source of energy rather than immediate glucose stores in your blood stream. This, if done properly can be a safe and effective way of cutting unwanted weight for a fight/competition. Again, there are so many variables that will influence how effective this works and to be honest I am hesitant to comment too much on whether I support intermittent fasting or not until I've had a few proper trials. One thing that rings true in all research I've done and experience is that intermittent fasting is not hunger striking... The recommended period of fasting is anywhere from 16-24hrs... Again, depending on people's reaction to fasting and their goals, this may or not be beneficial to them. In the mean time, as a boxer/mixed martial artist, I am forever battling to keep body fat at a certain level and if intermittent fasting is effective in any way, I'm all for it... In the big scheme of things, being hungry is one of the easier aspects of preparing your body physically in the lead up to a fight or competition... Suffice it all to say: The jury is still out..."

My eating plan at 90kg in order to lose another 10kg was along the lines of:

Normal training day including sparring, drilling, HIIT:

800g chicken
Anything green

I made two meals out of this, ate one at 2pm, the other as soon as I got home from the gym (around 10pm).
An hour before training I could eat one piece of fruit, so I did this about 4:30pm.

On training days that incorporated weights as well as other exercises above:

1kg chicken
250g rice
Green vegetables

Before training I could have two pieces of fruit, but I rarely did, unless I was really hungry, which wasn't the case often.

When I got to 85kg I stepped down the amounts a bit. I didn't actually do all the macro calculations for the step down, I fucking hate math. However, I cut the rice down to about 200g, and the chicken to 650g and 850g depending on the exercises for that day. These did not affect my energy levels and the reason I did it was because it was a **** tonne of food and I had begun to stagnate at 85kg. Nearing the fight I was doing less heavy weights and more explosive weight moves, so I modified the carb intake as I didn't feel I needed massive glycogen restoring.

Sang can attest to the body change and the intensity to which I was training having witnessed it on a number of occasions. I wasn't losing muscle mass, I was losing fat and rapidly. I maintain that I was actually getting stronger and fitter despite conventional wisdom suggesting I would be losing muscle faster than fat.